Wind energy has been harnessed to drive useful systems for many centuries. From sailing vessels to grain-milling machines, wind has served as a useful link between (ultimately) solar energy and tasks that people wish to accomplish.
In recent decades, wind has attracted attention as a clean, virtually inexhaustible resource that can supply part of civilization's electrical power requirements. Vast “wind farms” are a common sight where favorable climactic conditions intersect with low land prices and proximity to electrical distribution interchange locations. Many countries have made significant investments in increasing wind-power generation capacity, and the amount of wind-generated power is likely to continue to increase, even if the overall ratio of wind- to other sources of power does not change significantly.
Systems and configurations that are able to convert the available energy in wind to useful forms more efficiently, and/or that have other operational benefits over the present generation of tall, complex and difficult-to-maintain windmills deployed today will be of significant value in this field.